Segment 2 - Kuldahar, first visit:
This segment might look pretty easy, but it's actually the segment I had to restart the most. Pickpocketing Orrick fails the most time with 35% on the pickpocketing skill. This is the first major difficulty of this segment.

A little explanation for the strange things I do in the tavern: It's a shortcut for Kresselack's Quest: He wants you to kill Lysan, a priestess of Auril, who is hiding in the Kuldahar tavern, disguised as a waitress. After accepting his quest Lysan will be removed from the tavern and placed in the yeti-cave in the Vale of Shadows. The usual way to solve this quest is to go into Kresselack's crypt, accept the quest, go back to the Vale of Shadows to kill Lysan and then go back to the crypt once again to tell Kresselack of your success. Killing Lysan right in the tavern saves a lot of time but involves a few tricks since the player is not supposed to kill her in the tavern: Lysan has to be charmed, otherwise she and all the Kuldahar townsfolk will turn hostile. And that's the second difficulty of this segment: Lysan gets a saving throw against the charm spell far too often. And the third difficulty is to leave the tavern immediately when Lysan dies. If you leave a second too late, all the Kuldahar people will turn hostile and the game isn't completable anymore.

Segment 3 - Vale of the Shadows:
Two keys have to be retrieved in this area. The first one is pretty easy to get, the second one is a bit trickier. Therik is blocking the way and he's far too tough for my level 1 character. Simply luring him away will do the trick.

Segment 4 - Kresselack's Crypt:
This segment is also pretty hard. It's vital to stay in the shadows where possible since there are a lot of skeletons. One of the worst things that can happen here is that a skeleton blocks your way. I talk to Mytos on the first level in order to get some XP and my first level-up. After finishing the quest I use a Potion of Genius and learn the mirror image spell.

Segment 5 - Kuldahar, second visit:
I primarily pickpocket Oswald for his Necklace of Missiles (he has some other useful stuff like a Ring of Protection +2 and some Oils of Fiery Burning). While I visit Arundel I take his Ring of Freedom...they can be sold for 9000 gold pieces. Oswald's Necklace of Missiles has only one charge, thus I use the recharge-glitch in Orrick's tower.

Segment 6 - Tempe of the Forgotten God & third Kuldahar visit
On level 2 I take some sort of Shadow Armor (random item). The rest of this segment is pretty unexciting.

Segment 7 - Dragon's Eye, Level 1 - 3
There's a nice random item on the first level: The boots of fox in the statue behind the Lizard King. The description says that they give +40% movement rate but they are actually as fast as the Boots of Speed (which double the movement rate)

Segment 8 - Dragon's Eye, Level 3 - 5
Getting the haste scroll from Presio is quite nasty. On level 4 I kill the librarian for his Potion of Invisibility. I use a Potion of Perception and two Potions of Mind Focusing to open that lock of the door leading to level 5 and to learn the haste spell.

Segment 9 - Dragon's Eye, Level 5
I use the Necklace of Missiles to disturb the dispel magic spell from one of the priests. Yxunomei is best killed with the arrows +2 I collected earlier on this level (she needs at least +2 weapons to be hurt).

Segment 11 - Severed hand:
The haste spell lasts exactly long enough until I reach Sehriya. My route through the rest of the game depends on getting the +3 sword in the Corellon Tower. It's a random item and it can be very annoying if you have to restart the segment over and over again because you don't get the proper item. All the other random swords are only +2 and that's not sufficient to kill Iron Golems and Belhifet.

I was very lucky that I got a critical hit with a backstab against Keylessa (112 damage!).

Segment 12 - Dorn's Deep & Wyrm's Tooth:
After buying some potions from Bandoth I use an Arrow of Displacement to teleport me around. Saves me from walking around a lot. I use another Arrow of Displacement in the home of the Neo-Orogs to get around masses of enemies, blocking the way. The chieftain is an easy kill for a thief.

I kill the slave with the technical manual since it is faster than talking. Joril can be persuaded to give his badge to you (it can't be stolen from him).

Segment 13 - Lower Dorn's Deep:
The badge of the Maiden Ilmadia can be stolen. There are some annoying dialogues here: Ilmadia, the salamander chieftain or one of the fire giants will talk to you if you're not fast enough. I wanted to avoid all these dialogues at any cost.

I grab a scroll of Tenser's Transformation in Malavon's home. Strange enough: The statue in the room before Poquelin can be backstabbed.

Segment 14 - Easthaven revisited:
The hardest part of the fight against Pomab is to find the real Pomab in the first place. After hitting the real Pomab for the first time, it's pretty easy to spot where he teleports. With each hit one of the false Pomabs disappears.

The fight against Belhifet is pretty easy with all the Potions and Tenser's Transformation. I avoid walking into the inner circle of the room, because there are a few dispel magic traps.

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Reviews

I love this game, and was astonished to see a speedrun. I've wondered just how fast it could be hammered through, and Julien has answered that question.

The video is excellent quality. Very clear and defined, and the player uses all the graphics options available in the game. Outstanding job with the encoding and the graphics. Sound is high quality, but a little bit soft. Could've used an amplification. There is some crackling during the level loads, but it's not horrible.

The speedrun mechanics are top-notch. Really good job with the gameplay.

Thank you for putting the time into this speed run. Absolutely wonderful run!